LOCAL

Store owner killed, Swansea town offices not headed to mall: Top Fall River area stories

The Herald News

FALL RIVER — Fall River just suffered through an incredibly tragic week, as the city reeled from its latest homicide.

But as with any week, the news wasn't all bad, and we're here to catch you up on the week's biggest stories. 

It's election season in the city, and the two mayoral candidates — incumbent Mayor Paul Coogan and City Council President Cliff Ponte — sparred over issues as diverse as crime, economic development, universal pre-K and Mayflower Wind's proposed development.

The long-dormant Port Authority and Fall River Line Pier boards were reactivated, and hammering out a new lease agreement is tops on their to-do list.

And this week marked the one-year anniversary of the death of David Almond, the Fall River teen with autism who starved to death in the care of his father and his father's girlfriend. Reporter Audrey Cooney looked into what has changed in the wake of that tragedy so that no other child meets that same fate.

Here's a look at the most-read stories on heraldnews.com this week.

Convenience store owner shot and killed

On Monday at 10:33 pm, Fall River Police were called to the Stop N Save convenience store at 201 Rock Street in regards to a male victim inside suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.  The 911 caller had entered the store at around 10:30 p.m. to purchase food and found the owner/clerk of the store on the floor behind the counter with blood on his chest. The victim, later identified as Lal Kishor Mahaseth, 54, of Fall River, was transported to Charlton Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 11:14 p.m.

Those who live and work nearby remembered him as a considerate, hard-working immigrant who was just trying to make a living.

“He was a really nice man. He always helped people,” said Catherine Santiago in describing Lal Kishor Mahaseth.

The killing of Fall River convenience store owner Lal Kishor Mahaseth has reverberated throughout the local Nepali community.

It also has served as a reminder to other convenience store owners and their employees of the potential dangers they face day in and day out as they go about their business.

'We can't stop a bullet':Fall River convenience store owners grieve for slain shopkeeper

Attackers who beat man to death in 2017 sentenced

 A Somerset man was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 years to life in prison for the beating death of a 63-year-old city man in October 2017.

Scott Rodrigues, 48, was convicted of second-degree murder in August, along with his former girlfriend, Mendi Perry, 45, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Rodrigues has been in jail since he assaulted the victim, Dennis Cousineau, and left him for dead at the intersection of Bedford and Albion streets, where police found him lying on the ground, unresponsive, with traumatic injuries to his face and head. 

Attackers sentenced:Four years after beating a Fall River man to death, his attackers are sentenced to prison

Swansea Mall town office deal off, for now

Town officials are pumping the brakes on a plan to move town offices into space at the former Swansea Mall, citing legal issues they say would make the move impossible.

“In aiming to answer all of the questions raised, in performing our due diligence, and during the negotiations and legal review, we have found we are legally unable to move forward with this proposal and that we cannot, in good faith, continue to prepare terms and conditions for a contract with the Proposer,” the Board of Selectmen said in an announcement on Tuesday.

Swansea Town Mall?:Why the plan to move Swansea town hall to the former mall is 'postponed indefinitely'

Which products are made in Fall River?

Fall River’s unofficial slogan is “Make it Here,” and we certainly do. Though the city is often stereotyped as a town full of dead mills where manufacturing is a distant memory, plenty of companies around here still produce goods — some of them destined for the swankiest homes worldwide.  

In honor of Manufacturing Month, we found 11 cool products manufactured right here within city limits. 

Making it here:Celebrate Manufacturing Month with these 11 products created in Fall River

Helping other families through ALS

 David Machado spent an untold amount of hours playing golf at Fall River Country Club. When the Swansea resident died of ALS three years ago, his family knew just the right way to honor him.

The fundraiser is now a registered 501c3 nonprofit. Over the course of three years, they’ve raised between $75,000 and $80,000, all of which is donated to the ALS Therapy Development Institute, a research institute in Watertown.

ALS fundraiser:This avid Swansea golfer died of ALS. Here's how his family is helping others like him.